SPELTHORNE councillors have scuppered the Environment Agency's bid to move a riverside depot in Sunbury to Wheatley's Eyot island.

They rejected the plans just a week after their counterparts in Elmbridge also turned down the proposals, to the delight of nearby residents.

The boundary for the two borough councils runs through Wheatley's Eyot, which is green belt land on the River Thames.

Elmbridge council received more than 80 letters of objection from residents who feared shifting the maintenance depot would open up the mainland site in Fordbridge Road for new homes.

The agency had argued it was too large for its needs and that developing the island would allow it to maintain a 24-hour-a-day service to combat flooding and pollution.

But Spelthorne council's planning committee unanimously rejected the move. Chairman Howard Thomson said members were not convinced the "advantages outweighed the disadvantages".

He said the island, an area of nature conservation, was within the one in 20-year functional floodplain, putting the workshop and equipment at risk of flooding.

The visibility aspect, and retention of the riverside character, was also deemed an absolute requirement under green belt policy guidelines.

Mr Thomson said: "We did not feel the Environment Agency had made the necessary arguments to approve the application."

Spelthorne rejected plans for 88 house and flats submitted by the agency and Linden Homes earlier this year.

Jonathan Webster, of the Campaign Against Riverside Over-Development, told Elmbridge council that the agency had tried to get the Fordbridge Road site "developed in the way they want" for more than a decade.

Commenting on Spelthorne's decision, he said: "EA and Linden Homes are now in disarray."

The agency's island site includes a dry dock, storage buildings, riverside moorings and a slipway.